The invention relates to a method and an arrangement for processing negotiable instruments.
It is a desire to be able to deliver relatively large amounts of money, for example the daily income of a trading house, which contains both cash and monetary payment forms such as checks or credit notes, at a financial institute, even after the end of business. This has previously been done in the deposit process, as it is called, in which cash and monetary payment forms are put into a deposit envelope or a strong box and this container is thrown into a deposit slot belonging to the financial institute. Although this provides safe keeping of the amount of money, it does not provide its recording in terms of value and credit to an account belonging to the depositor. This normally takes place only on the next working day of the financial institute, and the depositor in the worst case suffers a loss of interest of a number of days.
WO 97/13225 A1 discloses an automatic money receiving and dispensing machine, into which banknotes can be put and, following authenticity checking and determination of the value, can be kept safe. The automatic banking machine contains, inter alia, a banknote receiving point and a transport device for banknotes, a banknote checking and recognition device, a temporary store and a multiplicity of storage units for the safe keeping of the banknotes. The known automatic banking machine is suitable only for recording and depositing banknotes.
EP 0 606 959 A2 describes a device for the deposition of deposit envelopes and individual documents, which is equipped with an input slot, a printing device for deposit information, a magnetic scanner apparatus for scanning encoded information on individual documents, a plurality of storage units for the storage of deposit envelopes and individual documents and also an imaging apparatus for producing an image of an individual document. This device is not envisaged for the acceptance of banknotes. It is also disadvantageous that only a single document can be input at a time. Depositing a larger number of payment forms, for example the daily income of a trading house, would therefore last much too long. Being present for a long time at an automatic banking machine is already undesirable, for safety reasons. Furthermore, in order to input cash, an automatic banking machine suitable for the purpose additionally has to be found.
It is an object of the invention to specify a method which permits processing of banknotes and monetary payment forms, and to propose an arrangement for implementing this method.
The part of the object based on the method is achieved by the features of claim 1, and the part based on the arrangement is achieved by the features of claim 10.
The invention makes the processing of negotiable instruments of different types, that is to say both banknotes and monetary payment forms xe2x80x94for example checks or credit notes xe2x80x94possible in a single automatic banking machine equipped with an deposit function. The delivery of a relatively large number of banknotes and payment forms, for example the daily income of a trading house, can therefore be carried out with one input operation if the automatic banking machine is designed to process mixed stacks of negotiable instruments, or otherwise in two successive input operations for banknotes and payment forms. By means of a closure flap in front of the input compartment, the negotiable instruments placed therein are removed from access, so that the security expectations of the depositor are fulfilled.
The method according to the invention therefore begins with the insertion of negotiable instruments in the input compartment. They may be both a single example or a stack of banknotes or monetary payment forms. Since banknotes and monetary payment forms are treated differently, as will be described further below, the setting of a control criterion for an electronic processing device is carried out on the basis of the type of negotiable instruments to be processed. In the simplest case, this setting can be carried out by actuating a selection switch before the removal of the first negotiable instrument from the input compartment.
According to an alternative expression of the method, the setting of the control criterion is carried out after the removal of a negotiable instrument from the input compartment, and with the aid of a sensor which is able to distinguish at least between banknotes and other sheet materials.
The negotiable instruments are therefore taken one after another from the input compartment and transported through a negotiable instrument recording device into a temporary store, banknotes being checked for authenticity in a banknote checking and recognition device and their nominal value being recorded and the latter stored in a value store. Payment forms, on the other hand, are depicted in an image recording station, and the data representing the depiction is stored in an image store. The negotiable instruments are transported from the temporary store into at least one secure deposit store at the latest after a deposit operation has been completed.
According to a preferred embodiment of the method, each payment form depicted during the input operation is displayed on a visual display unit. According to a first development of this method step, with the aid of a character recognition method, information printed and/or written on the payment form is converted into DP-processable information and the latter is indicated in plain text in a subarea of the visual display unit. According to an alternative development of the aforementioned method step, with the aid of keyboard inputs, the information printed and/or written on the payment form is transferred by the visual display unit into the aforementioned subarea of the visual display unit and depicted there. The plain-text information recorded in accordance with one of the alternative developments and depicted in plain text in the subarea can, if appropriate, be corrected with the aid of keyboard inputs, and then its agreement with the information printed and/or written on the payment form can be confirmed.
Since the amount mentioned on the payment forms can be checked, corrected if necessary and confirmed as correct by the depositor, it can immediately be credited to the account of the depositor. At the same time, it is of course possible that the credit will be made only after the clearance of the monetary payment form. This is in any case conventional when depositing, for example, checks at the bank counter. The number of the benefiting account was made known to the automatic banking machine at the beginning of the deposit operation in a known way by inserting a chip card or magnetic-strip card into a card reader belonging to the automatic banking machine. The financial institute is protected against error and attempted fraud by the knowledge of the account of the depositor and his confirmation. In order additionally to provide the depositor with security with respect to the financial institute, in an additional method step, the depiction of each payment form, on its own or together with the information depicted in the subarea of the visual display unit, can be printed onto an deposit receipt, and the latter can be made available to the depositor.
After the accounting operation, the payment forms are conveyed into a secure storage unit. Before or during the transport of the payment form to said unit, according to a development of the invention, it is printed with an item of canceling information, so that it cannot be presented again unnoticed.
An arrangement suitable for implementing the method comprises an input compartment which can be closed by a closure flap and has a following transport path for negotiable instruments, a banknote checking and recognition device arranged on the transport path, an image recording station, arranged on the transport path, with a video camera for recording the image of payment forms, an image store for storing the video image data about a payment form, a temporary store for negotiable instruments, arranged downstream of the banknote checking and recognition device and the image recording station, at least one deposit store for negotiable instruments, a generator for a control criterion representing a type of negotiable instrument, and a value store, at least for the nominal value of a recognized banknote.
According to a preferred development of the arrangement, a diverter is arranged on the transport path and, in a first position, connects the temporary store to the input compartment or an output compartment and, in a second position, connects the temporary store to the at least one deposit store. In its first position, the diverter permits the introduction of the negotiable instruments taken from the input compartment into the temporary store and their transport back, for example following the abortion of an deposit operation, into the input or the additional output compartment. In the second position of the diverter, after a deposit operation has been concluded, the temporarily stored negotiable instruments are deflected into the deposit store or stores, where they are kept safe.
Corresponding to a development of the arrangement, the banknote checking and recognition device is arranged upstream of the image recording station, and a negative banknote recognition signal, that is to say a signal with the content xe2x80x9cthe sheet materials passing through are not a banknotexe2x80x9d serves as an activation signal for the image recording station.
According to an alternative development of the arrangement, the video camera is arranged in the banknote checking and recognition device. It produces a depiction of each negotiable instrument passing through said device. The video image data about a depicted negotiable instrument is stored in the image store only in the case of a negative banknote recognition signal. Since it is already established, after the scanning has advanced by a few millimeters relative to the sheet materials, whether the latter is a banknote in this case, the storage of the relevant part of the image data can be carried out in real time.
According to another development of the arrangement, the latter is equipped with a visual display unit for displaying a payment form by using the video image data and a keyboard for registering or correcting and confirming the correctness of information taken from the display of the payment form on the visual display unit. In addition, the arrangement may comprise a keyboard and/or a card reader for the input of an account number into a computer managing accounts.
The image recording station comprises a video camera. This can be designed as a full image camera. However, since the payment form is moved through the image recording station, the video camera can also be designed as a line-scan camera without, for this purpose, additional outlay arising for advancing the payment form line by line relative to the video camera.